The car came to a halt, shaking me out of my thoughts and leaving me time to realise that we were inside the town that I had only once ever been in before, when Sedrick got kicked out of the music last.
We had stopped in a car parking space outside a posh boutique in a well off area of town.
The boutique was called "Clothes to Die For", the writing was written in blood and the outside of the shop had a big window that was blacked out so you couldn't see anything inside.
"Come on, lets go and shop 'til we drop!" Serena shouted and pulled me out of the car. She recoiled a little when she stepped into the sun but she seemed to get used to it within a matter of mili seconds.
Serena pulled me into the shop, not in a mean way but in a very excited and doesn't realise her own strength way.
The shop was bigger then it looked on the outside, black linoleum tiles on the floor, dark purple walls that were iluminated with red lights, black shelves and clothes racks that were covered in dark coloured clothes, dark coloured heels and boots, dark themed jewellery and sheleves with black and purple perfumed bottles on them.
It was goth heaven.
Along the back wall, there was a doorway that had been covered with a black, floral patterened curtain, and just to the left of it was a woman wearing gothic glothes, stood behind a counter that had red burning candles on.
"Hello Serena! How are you today? Who's your friends?" the woman said.
The woman looked young, black hair but with red and purple streaks in that was tied up in a messy bun on her head, purple eye contacts in her eyes that had been heavily lined with eyeliner, mascara and eye shadow, white face make up to make her look pale and black lipstick on her lips. She had on a red corset that made her look really slim around her waste, a red layered skirt that had black lace over it and lots of jewellery that was studded and had skulls on them. The girl looked quite rebellious because apart from the clothes, she had piercings all over her face and then from her neck, right down her arms, tattoos spread.
"Hey Shadow, this is Candice and then you know my brother Sedrick." Serena replied, walking to a nearby rail of leather coats and looking at each one with longing.
"Hey Candice and of course Sedrick. Why don't you guys have a look around, I have something I wanna show you Serena that came in yesterday but the boss wants our very best customers to have first glance at. It is A-May-Zing!" she said and then disappeared behind the curtain.
"Have a look for something whilst I'm gone, you've gotta look amazing for Saturday and so here's the best place you can be." Serena instructed and then disappeared behind the curtain aswell.
I walked over to a rail that had black dresses on but I wasn't really even looking, I was just distracting myself from my thoughts.
I fumbled with the material of one dress, even though I hadn''t even seen what it looked like but it felt like the same material that a scarf my mother brought for me had.
"I know you're making the wrong decision." Sedrick said from out of the blue. He used vampire speed so that he was on the on the other side of the dress rail, inches from my face.
I stumbled backwards, still not used to the quickness and suddeness of vampire speed, "Could you please stop doing that?"
"I'm sorry but I do know that you're making the wrong choice." he repeated.
"What? What do you know about it?" I asked, annoyed.
"I know that you don't love him, I know that the only reasons you want to get married for is love. I know that you hate Malik and I also saw the look on your face the minute that Serena came and was all Serena about it, you don't want people to know that you're 'in love' with a vampire because you're ashamed of it!" he shouted.
"Shut up! I know what I'm doing, I'm only doing it so I-"
"What? So you can go home? Do you really think it's going to be as easy as that? You'll regret making this decision the minute you say I do. Oh but that's just it, you already do regret it. I can see it in your eyes, you don't want to go through with this."
"What choice do I have?" I shouted, annoyed with his constant taunting and acting like he knows everything when he knows very little. "There is no other way I can leave and if I stay and don't do this, the slayers will attack and the would be no way I can leave if I'm dead! Besides, you were the one telling me that I was a big risk if I didn't follow through, that I was unreliable and you thought Malik putting your family in this position was stupid!"
"No! I didn't mean it like that, I was angry with Malik for making us in this position. And there is always a choice, you're just making the wrong one."
"What? What other decision was there to make? I can't stay here all my life, I hate it enough as it is and if I have to live here for another fifty years then I'll go crazy! It's not as if you're magically gonna say to me 'guess what Candice? I'll take you home now and suffer the wrath of the slayers!' To hell you would ever say that! If you think I'm making such a bad decision, then give me another choice or at least tell me what the hell you think is the bloody right decision so that I can have another think on choising it or not!"
"Have you found anything you want yet?" Serena asked in her high pitched, appearing from behind the curtain with Shadow. "You haven't been looking, have you?" Serena said looking from me to Sedrick.
I waited for several seconds, wondering if her or Shadow had heard what were talking about. She must know that I'm not happy about being here but she seems oblivious to the fact that I was only marrying Malik as part of a deal that I get to leave not that long afterwards.
"No worries! I'll just help you find something!" she cheered in her feminine voice.
She took my hand and pulled me to a rail full of black dresses.
She started pulling out various dresses, holding them up to me and throwing the ones she didn't like back on the shelf.
She went through a whole rail before she even found one that went in the 'maybe' pile which she kindly used Sedrick as a human clothes rack.
"Ahh, I think we have a strong competator!" she shrieked and threw the dress at me, "go and try this on!" she said and then pushed me towards the dressing rooms.
I walked in there and shut the curtain behind me, making sure there was no peep holes.
I slipped off my own clothes and pulled the black dress over my head. It was low cut, tied up around the neck and the skirt part of the dress was ruffled nicely.
It covered up the vampire bite scars nicely.
"OMG! You look A-May-Zing!" Shadow said, looking me up and down.
"She does but there are something things missing like the shoes, the jewellery, the make up and Oh God I nearly forgot the hair!" Serena said, looking on all the different shelves for stuff to accompany my outfit.
"Shadow can we please use some of the things that you showed me in the back? I know Candice is a first time customer but I'm your favourite customer!" Serena begged.
"Sure, I don't see why not, as long as we use your membership card then the boss shouldn't know." Shadow replied and then her and Serena disappeared behind the curtains again.
"This means that we aren't gonna need these anymore, doesn't it?" Sedrick said, holding a big pile of clothes in his hands. I shrugged and so he dropped the clothes on the floor, walking away from them as if nothing happened.
I leant against the wall behind me, unsure on what to do until Serena comes back.
"The dress suits you." Sedrick said after a long, very awquard silence.
"T-thanks." I replied. I was just happy that it covered up the bite mark on my neck.
"So...The usual small talk is 'have you seen any good films lately', isn't it? But in your case, I don't think films have been on the top of your list." he mocked.
"Haha you are sooo funny it's unbelieveable. Why is it that you got kicked out of the house again? Being too funny?" I replied, he's started to get under my skin again and I haven't even been talking to him for more then a couple of hours.
"Damn you still haven't gotten any better at those comebacks, I almost feel sorry for you. By the way, did my invatation for the introduction thing get lost in the post? I guess not considering that people never send letters anymore..."
"What? For the thing on Saturday?"
"Yeah, I was all set, I had my tux picked out and even arranged a date but I guess I'm not inivited..."
"Are lots of people going then? Are all of them vampires? Do I have to meet all of them?" I asked, beginning to panic at the thought of being trapped in a room full of people that are vampires.
"Haha, just chill Trouble, only the important people in town are gonna be there aswell as the whole vampire household that you, well I suppose I now live with will be there. Oh and the slayers....Do you think this means I'm invited? I better tell my date to get something hot to wear." he said, thoughts going elsewhere.
"We have shoes, jewellery, hair stuff and even a little bit of make up. You can slip out of the dress now Candice, we have all we need so lets get home before the vampires wake up and see you as a walking blood bag." she said.
I went into the dressing room and got dressed as quick as I could, shuddering at the thoughts of having a bunch of hungry vampires, sucking the blood from my neck.
I handed the dress to Serena once out of the shop and she paid for it using a small card.
It made me wonder what type of currency that the people here would be using, surely the government didn't know about this place, otherwise all of the vampires etc. would have been killed by the army.
Sedrick and Serena waved goodbye to Shadow and then we all left the shop as quickly as we could, outside it was dark and there was no street lamps on either.
Sedrick started the car quickly, me and Serena sat in the back, she continued talking about weddings and clothes, I stared out the window into the darkness.
I suppose that's what I'll be seeing for the next chapter of my life, darkness.
I'm going to marry the vampire head, do whatever else he says so that I can leave, go home and be with my mother and brother.
The car was well on it's way out of town before I even realised that we were moving.
Serena was still talking to herself, going on about shoes and dresses, I really didn't know if she ever noticed that people zoned out whilst she was talking.
I looked around the car, taking in everything in my surroundings from the gloves that were hanging off of the dash board in the front of the car, to the bottle of water in the front passenger side door.
I looked into the rear view mirror, Sedrick was gazing at me, trying to catch my eyes.
He looked at me as if to say 'I know what you're feeling and you've got to do something about it' and so I turned away, he couldn't tell me how to run my life, especially when I'm only doing this to get back to my life.
"Sedrick, could you stop at the next house, I've gotta date this evening and my friend Raven promised to help me get ready." Serena said, looking through her phone messages.
"Ohh a date." he teased, "Who's the unlucky guy?" he continued, getting a smack on the arm from Serena.
"Haha very funny." she replied sarcastically, "And just because of that, you don't get to know who."
"Ah c'mon, I was only joking. Is it somebody I need to warn about how to treat my sister?" Sedrick said, trying to act mature.
"No it most definately is not. I want to keep this certain person a secret from you as long as possible, I know how you and Malik act towards any boyfriends I have." Serena said, shuddering from a memory.
"Hey! I'm not as bad as him, he's just a douche, where as I'm doing it for the welfare of my twin sister who is also younger then me."
"Yeah by twelve minutes!"
"Whatever. Is this the turning?" he said, slowing the car down outside a driveway.
"Yeah, just pull up, I can run the rest of the way." she said, within a second of the car stopping, she was out the door which was now closed and she was halfway up the drive.
"Do you wanna move into the front of the car? Although it might be best if you climb across the seats because of all of the vampires out on the prowl. We wouldn't want any old vampire picking up your smell and then following us on the way home, would we?" Sedrick said and then held out a hand for me to take so that I could climb across the seats.
I ignored his hand and began clambering across the seats, plopping myself down on the seat beside him.
"Really? You don't want my help?" Sedrick said, referring to how I ignored the help of his hand, I hoped.
"A hand can't help me, even if I wanted it to." I replied.
"Whatever. Now, let's get you back to Malik, he'll be wondering where we are. Although you might wanna strap in, I'm gonna see how fast this baby goes!" Sedrick said, and then reved the engine.
I quickly snapped my seat belt in place, grabbing hold of whatever I could.
"Brace yourself, I'm gonna floor this baby!" Sedrick shouted, gave me a devilish smile and then puched his foot on the excellerator.
I screamed at the force the car sped at, I was flung, back into my seat, gripping hold of the chair with my hands for dear life.
The car sped around the corners, squeeling tires was all that could be heard above my screams.
There was adrenaline, rushing through my body like it were my blood, bursting through my veins and exhilarating me to the brink.
"Watch out for that wolf!" I shrieked, spotting a wolf running out infront of us.
Sedrick swerved the car, missing the wolf but hitting onto the curb.
The car rolled several times, I shut my eyes, hoping that it was all just a horrible dream and I was going to wake up in several minutes, sweating.
The car rolled over for a final time, landing on its roof, stopping upside down.
I felt a warmth dripping down the side of my face, opening my eyes and seeing Sedricks limp body against the seat belt.
All was silent.
I felt so cold.
My seat belt had me trapped against the chair, digging into my shoulder, tearing into my skin.
I felt cold and tired, sleep was all I needed.
I heard the smash of glass and saw the outstretched hand.
Everything went black.